$88 MILLION NEEDED TO AVERT FOOD INSECURITY IN MALAWI

$88 MILLION NEEDED TO AVERT FOOD INSECURITY IN MALAWI

GENEVA/ NEW YORK, 30 August (OCHA) -- The United Nations today launched a Flash Appeal for nearly $88 million for Malawi, where at least 4.2 million people -- 34 per cent of the total population -- are currently threatened by acute food insecurity.

Calling for some $51 million for food and nutritional assistance and $37 million for emergency agricultural assistance, the Appeal reinforces the Government’s two-track approach aimed at relieving the country’s chronic food insecurity situation.

In the immediate term, the requested funds will be used to provide emergency humanitarian aid for the most vulnerable.  In the longer term, the Appeal strengthens a national plan to provide much-needed maize seed and fertilizer.  International assistance will be used to distribute one bag of seed and fertilizer each to 1 million of the poorest farming families.  Without assistance, these farmers will be unable to produce enough food to feed their families, and the current food crisis will be repeated in the coming year.

“This appeal”, said Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, “is truly forward-looking in that it attempts to avert hunger and at the same time promote sustainable recovery of livelihoods.  Investing in prevention will prove much more cost effective than providing emergency assistance year after year.”

The World Food Programme (WFP) will take the lead in providing immediate humanitarian assistance to 2 million of the most vulnerable in the country’s hardest-hit southern region, as a complement to the national effort to assist a further 2.2 million individuals through food distribution and voucher schemes, and through cash interventions.  The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will provide emergency nutrition assistance.  On the second track, the Appeal will enhance the Government’s effort to subsidize seed and fertilizers to ensure small farmers’ access to these key agricultural inputs.  Also participating in the Appeal are the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

By addressing the underlying causes of the food crisis, as well as emergency needs, the Government of Malawi and the United Nations will be working together to lay the basis for food security in the long run.  “Similar to other countries in the region, Malawi continues to reel from the impact of food insecurity, HIV/AIDS, and weakened government capacity -- a deadly mix which threatens the livelihoods of millions”, said James Morris, WFP Executive Director and United Nations Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa.  “This Appeal represents a real opportunity for the international community to focus on the immense challenges facing people today, as well as those in the future.”

The full text of the Malawi Flash Appeal is available at www.reliefweb.int.

For further information, please call:  Kristen Knutson, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) NY, tel.:  917 367 9262, mobile:  917-892-1679; Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel.:  +41 22 917 2653.

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For information media • not an official record